


A Series of Awkward Events

by Lovely_Reira



Category: K (Anime)
Genre: Bisexual Male Character, Ginger Boi Squad, M/M, Not Me!, SO, We are at 6k+ and I'm not even done., What am I doing with my life?, Who the hell knows?!, this was supposed to be a short story that was like 1.5k-2k words tops., where is this story going?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-07-03
Packaged: 2019-05-23 04:16:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14926985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lovely_Reira/pseuds/Lovely_Reira
Summary: A story about coming to terms with your sexuality, overcoming your biases, and misunderstandings that might end up getting someone murdered. Probably not. But, it's possible.Haha. That sounds so serious. I mean, it kind of is. But, like with way more shitty writing and me bullshitting my way through a plot that wasn't supposed to happen but here we are.Also, I still suck at naming stuff. Please feel free to suggest a better name.





	1. Chapter 1

It really shouldn’t have been that much of a surprise, if he was being completely honest with himself. After all, it wasn’t as if he had ever not been attracted to guys too. It was just such a different feeling for him than being attracted to girls that he hadn’t realized that they could possibly mean the same thing.

With girls, his face burned and his tongue suddenly felt like lead. They were just so pretty and so foreign to him that he didn’t know what to say. He was rough around the edges; too loud, too rough,  and had developed a pretty foul mouth as he got older. All things that he had been taught that he shouldn’t subject girls to. So when he did like one, he got so nervous and in his head about the whole situation that he just couldn’t speak properly at all. The more he tried, the more he failed. Especially when he focused on how sweaty his hands would get or the irregular bearing of his heart.

When it came to guys, it was different. There was still that nagging feeling of wanting to make sure he wasn’t being too much, but there was also the pleasant and comfortable warmth that came from being around them. The way his heart would flutter a bit when Mikoto would praise him or Tatara would throw his arm around him, making him just so aware of the contact. He didn’t even want to get started about the hurricane of confusing feelings that came up around Saruhiko. Feelings that got only more complicated when mixed with betrayal and insistent hatred.

These were never really things that he had considered the same as his past fleeting crushes on girls so he had quickly declared them as admiration because it would be too difficult if they were anything else.

Yet, here he was. Slowly piecing together that they were more than what he thought. At least, he was pretty sure that they were. There was no way he could be certain since his feelings had developed so much even after Mikoto and Tatara’s deaths that it wouldn’t be fair to himself to assess how he had felt about them back then now. The more that he thought about it, that he read about it, the greater the tightness in his throat became because fuck, it made sense.

So, with great hesitance, Yata Misaki accepted that there was a very good chance that he was probably bisexual.

\--

Despite his nature of being a pretty big blabbermouth, Misaki kept it to himself. It wasn’t as if he was particularly ashamed of it nor was he scared of his friends being disgusted - plenty of the guys were pretty open about which way they swung -, but he just wanted to have it be something for himself to figure out without any worry of being wrong and having to deal with the embarrassment of having to take back his coming out.

It wasn’t as if he had ever dated or kissed a guy so how could he be sure? Though...to be fair, he hadn’t exactly ever kissed or dated a girl either. All he had for either was the way he felt. And fuck did he feel a lot.

The only place where he had ever admitted his suspicions was online. After a lot of stumbling through the internet and seeing a lot of things that he would probably never unsee, he had come to terms with everything. He eventually found a chat forum for people questioning their sexualities and did quite a bit of questioning; while he was pretty fine with his realization, he wanted to make sure that he was as certain as he could be about it and get some kind of input from other people in similar situations. Carefully checking his spelling and grammar, he made a post explaining his situation rather vaguely and asking a series of pretty basic questions, in his opinion.

To his surprise, there had been quite a few unsavory responses. It made his stomach churn, his heart racing from mixtures of anxiety and anger.

‘Be honest, you are just gay lol’

‘I could never be with a bi guy. They’ll probably just leave you for a girl or cheat eventually’

‘Attention seeking much? You just want the LGBT label while still being in a straight relationship.”

‘you could pass for straight so it’s no biggie. just only date girls.’

‘Same lol’

It pissed him off. This was supposed to be a place that he could ask questions, but he wasn’t getting any actual help. Just a lot of useless bullshit. The pms he was receiving weren’t much better, but for much different reasons.

‘Hello, RedCrow. I can teach you all about whatever you want to know if you’d like to meet up. Though, I warn you that once you spend some time with me you won’t ever want to be with a girl again ;)’

‘Pics?’

‘Can u rate me?’

‘Can I see yu?’

‘Will you have a 3some with me and my bf?’

He wanted to rip his hair out and just give up. Maybe there would be books about this kind of stuff at the library that would have something that the internet wouldn’t. He’d just have to sit in an empty corner and put a different cover sleeve over the book to keep any unwanted eyes from seeing. Dammit, that was going to be a pain.

The soft ping notifying him of another pm drew a soft groan from him. Was it going to be another person trying to get him to send them pictures of his dick? He really didn’t think he had it in him to read many more of those before he completely exploded at someone. Still, he clicked on the notification and began reading the message.

KingArthur: Damn you’ve gotten quite a few shitty responses, huh? Most ppl only really use this place to mess around and hook up at this point, not a lot of actual helping going on. I’m gay, not bi but I can try to answer some questions. Sorry I won’t be able to help with everythng

He was hesitant at this point, having received a few messages already that seemed nice enough, but quickly turned out to be assholes.

**RedCrow:** ya people are assholes. and any help is better than nothing

**KingArthur:** I’ll do my best to answer anything that youve got!

**RedCrow:** ok.

**Red Crow:** So uh...

**Red Crow:** did you always know you were gay?

**KingArthur:** Nope! I was super in denial at first but there is only so long you can deny that kind of thing when you are surrounded by hot guys all day

**RedCrow:** at work or school or whatever?

**KingArthur:** Work. It’s seriously unfair at times. Sometimes I think my boss picked everyone based on their bishie level…even the girls are pretty and I don’t swing that way

**RedCrow:** lol what kind of weird guy do you work for?

**KingArthur:** A scary one. Tho that goes for a few of my higher ups… they are good ppl tho, i think.

This wasn’t so bad. This guy seemed to be pretty normal so far. He wondered if he would actually be able to help.

**KingArthur:** Enough about me tho. Since when have you suspected that your bi?

**RedCrow:** i dunno. I guess a while but i only really accepted it a couple weeks ago.

**KingArthur:** Ahh yeah, I get that. I kind of knew before I knew too lol

**KingArthur:** What made you accept it?

**KingArthur:** Got a crush or something??

**RedCrow:** no!

**RedCrow:** I’d been thinking bout it for a while i guess

**RedCrow:** kinda realized that I might have had crushes on some friends in the past and that made me start thinking

**RedCrow:** not anymore mostly

**KingArthur:** Mostly??

**RedCrow:** its complicated.

**KingArthur:** Aww you aren’t gonna tell me?

**RedCrow:** no. it wouldn’t make sense anyway.

**KingArthur:** Fineeeee. You should tell me some day tho

**RedCrow:** you wish

\--

Misaki was surprised by how quickly he started to get along with this stranger. They actually had a bit in common and spent a lot of time talking about shows and games that they liked as well as more serious topics. It came out eventually that they were the same age too which had someone made sense while taking Misaki by surprise at the same time since he seemed to have some kind of fancy job. Within only a couple of weeks, it felt as if he was talking to an old friend with the exclusion of not knowing his actual name or what he looked like.

It was different than talking to the guys since there was the safety net of anonymity amongst them that allowed Misaki to be a bit more bold when talking. However, he wasn’t sure how much longer this kind of help would be beneficial for him. There was only so much talking to someone through text could prepare him for actually being open about his sexuality.

With a tight chest and twisted stomach, he began typing into his PDA.

**RedCrow:** yo i got something i wanna run by you. Is that cool?

**KingArthur:** Shoot!

**KingArthur:** i’m at work tho so I might not be able to respond super fast. My coworkers are a bit suspicious lol

**RedCrow:** its ok. so...im thinking about coming out to some friends

As he had prepared himself for, it took his new friend a little while to respond. When he did, it was as enthusiastic as he had come to expect from the other male.

**KingArthur:** Holy Shit! Good for you man!!!!

**RedCrow:** thnks.

**RedCrow:** thats not the part i wanted to run by you tho

**KingArthur:** ?

**RedCrow:** well i kinda wanted to practice coming out ya know and i was wondering if i could practice with you…

**KingArthur:** But youve already told me lol If ya wanna run ways to come out by me tho, ill tell you which one sounds coolest tho!!

**RedCrow:** ya ive already told you but ive never actually said it out loud to someone else

**RedCrow:** im worried ill choke

**RedCrow:** if you make a joke about choking ill kick your ass

**RedCrow:** but anyway i was wondering if maybe we could meet up or something so that i could practice saying it to a real person

**RedCrow:** you don’t have to or anyhting

**RedCrow:** if ya dont wanna then we can just forget it and ill practice int he mirror or something

**KingArthur:** Sorry, I just fell out of my chair and had to make up an excuse

**KingArthur:** I think I feel way too warm and fuzzy about the fact that ill be your first time

**RedCrow:** DONT PUT IT LIKE THAT ASSHOLE

**KingArthur:** lol sorryyyyy

**RedCrow:** youre not sorry dont lie

**KingArthur:** You’re right!

**KingArthur:** Anywayssss heck yea I’m up for meeting up and helping you rehearse your big coming out!

**KingArthur:** I’ve never done this before so im not sure how to tho…

**RedCrow:** i dunno..isnt it just like meeting up with normal friends?? like you pick a place and time and just show up??

**KingArthur:** How will we know who each other is?

**RedCrow:** ummm fuck...ill wear a red beanie?

**KingArthur:** Oooh good idea! I think i have a crown brooch thing somewhere! I’ll find it and wear that!

**RedCrow:** thats unfair! You’ll be able to spot me before I can spot you!

**KingArthur:** Worried I’ll sneak up on you an kidnap you?

**RedCrow:** ya right. I could kick your ass

**KingArthur:** Suuure.

**KingArthur:** Don’t wrry, even if i see you, i wont approach you until you see me okay? That way if you change your mind you can leave and we can pretend like none of it happened!

**RedCrow:** ok that sounds good to me. I guess we just gotta pick a time and place then

\--

Two days later, Misaki was standing outside of a game shop that they had both talked about before, deciding to meet up there since it was neutral ground. Plus it was easy to find and apparently pretty close for both of them.

He was completely nervous, so much so that he even got there before the meeting time despite knowing that the other was coming from work so he wouldn’t be getting there early. He hoped that he would be able to pick him out before he noticed him, even though his bright red beanie made him stick out like a sore thumb. He kept a vigilant eye out on everyone that passed by him, staring fiercely at their shirt collars for the crown pin that was supposed to verify his identity.

Glancing at his watch, he realized that it was almost time and ‘KingArthur’ was going to be there any minute which meant that if he wanted to run away that this was going to be his last chance. It was tempting. He had told him already that if he wanted to back out last minute that he wouldn’t hold it against him so it wasn’t as if there would be any repercussions for his actions.

‘No. If I can’t even do this then how will I be able to tell the people that I’m close to,’ he steeled his resolve.

They were supposed to meet up inside so he decided to go inside and look at games to pass the remaining time and calm his nerves. Well, and he didn’t want to seem like an over eager weirdo by standing outside the store. This was supposed to be casual, even if it was a big moment for Misaki - meeting the only other human being that knew his little secret. He pushed the door open, feeling the cool air from inside wash over him as he walked towards the games lining the wall.

He allowed his eyes to roam over new and old titles for a few moments before eventually grabbing the colourful case for a new strategy rpg that had been released last month, reading the information on the back. It was actually a pretty cool. With all the hype surrounding it, he figured that it would be. He checked the price, humming softly to himself in contemplation. It had been a while since he had bought anything for himself so it wouldn’t hurt to splurge a little. He could think of it as a reward for taking a big step forward.

“Oh, I saw the trailer for that. It looked good. I was gonna wait till the price went down, but if you’re getting it then I’ll just play with you,” a voice said from over his shoulder, surprising and confusing him. “Sorry, I know I said I’d wait, but I’m impatient and you were taking forev- holy shit.”

Misaki turned around, looking up to see a vaguely familiar face. The green eyes that looked down at him were wide with surprise. His own eyes slowly grew larger as realization washed over them.

He jerked back, pointing at him. “Y-You work with Saruhiko!” he exclaimed a bit louder than he intended, earning a few glances.

“This makes so much sense…” he responded despite the disbelief in his voice.

“The hell do you mean it makes sense?” Misaki asked, narrowing his eyes at him. Had he been completely obvious even before he realized it himself? His entire body tensed with preparation to do...something. He didn’t quite know yet.

The other slowly shrugged. “Well, the username and why you said everything was complicated. I’m guessing you were trying to avoid having to explain the whole clan thing, right?”

Misaki nodded, relaxing slightly. “Oh, yeah. I guess it makes sense why you were always so vague about your job too,” he said, remembering how he had always been so quick to change the topic whenever he asked for details on what he did for a living.

“Damn, I never thought that I was talking to Homra’s Yatagarasu. I never would’ve thought that we would have gotten along,” he said with a laugh, rubbing the back of his neck.

“You can just call me Yata, ya know. It’d be weird if you kept calling me Yatagarasu after everything we’ve talked about…” Misaki told him with shifting eyes.

He nodded. “Got it! Yata it is then! I’m Domyouji Andy,” he told him.

Misaki recognized the name, quickly figuring that he had probably heard it while Scepter 4 was doing that dumb roll call thing that they did before they fought. He’d ask about why the hell they felt the need to be so dramatic later, though if he had to guess he would assume that the answer would be that ridiculous blue king.

“I’mma buy this real quick and then we can go sit down somewhere and talk.”

\--

By somewhere, he meant the little cafe across the street. It had been another reason that he had wanted to meet here. It was cheap and small, not somewhere he would expect to run into anyone that he knew. They sat down far away from the rest of the customers and ordered before Domyouji launched excitedly into talking to him, apparently not caring in the slightest that they were from different clans or that this was weird as hell.

“So when were you planning on making your confession? Who are you coming out to anyway?” he asked him, thankfully having enough awareness to keep his voice down.

It was a bit harder talking about this kind of stuff face to face, Misaki quickly realized as his face heated up. “I dunno when yet...I guess whenever I get the chance. I was gonna tell Kusanagi-san or Kamamoto first, I think.”

He had spent a lot of time trying to figure out who he should tell first and it had quickly narrowed down to those two. Kamamoto was his partner and although they always took shots at one another, they had each others backs so Misaki knew that he would be someone that wouldn’t be too hard to tell. As for Kusanagi, he was someone that he trusted completely that he knew would take the whole situation with a level head and would hear him out if he asked to talk to him about something serious.

He gave a small nod. “Kusanagi is the bartender dude with sunglasses and Kamamoto is the big guy, right?” he verified.

“Yeah. Out of the guys they are the least likely to tease me,” Misaki admitted.

“What about your king? Anna, right?”

Immediately, Misaki shook his head. “No way. Not that I think Anna would care or anything. I just..coming out to a kid first feels too embarrassing…” Plus, with Anna’s strain abilities, it seemed like she always knew or at least suspected pretty much everything so he got the feeling that she probably would already know.

“Well, she wouldn’t be first. I’m your first time, remember?” Domyouji grinned at him, his eyes twinkling mischievously as Misaki’s face turned a dark red.

“Didn’t I already tell you not to say it like that? And don’t be so damn loud!”

Domyouji laughed. Jeez, he was already reminding him of the guys back at Homra. “Man, you are fun to mess with. Being serious though, I think those guys both seem solid enough. How are you planning on telling them?”

“I have no fuckin’ clue. I don’t know how to do this kind of thing. Do I just randomly blurt it out? Should I like sit them down and tell them? I don’t want to make it a big deal or anything…” Misaki told him.

“You could always just do what I did when I came out to my parents,” Domyouji offered, making Misaki curious.

Though he had always been very open about telling him about his experiences with his sexuality, sometimes much more than Misaki wanted, they had never talked about his coming out.

He cocked his head slightly. “How’d you tell your parents?” he asked.

“I didn’t. I just waited till I got a boyfriend and brought him over one day for family dinner. They were a bit startled, but it was effective at getting the point across.”

“No,” Misaki deadpanned.

Of course he just came right out and just showed up with some guy. That fit completely in with what he had learned about him in the weeks that they had been talking online. There was no way that Misaki could imagine having the confidence to do something like that.

“Right, you’d need to get a boyfriend for that to work. I’d offer to be your fake boyfriend, but I feel like that would be dangerous…” he said, shivering slightly - probably imagining the response he would get from the rest of the red clan at having a blue come in with their vanguard.

Misaki glared at him. “Even just suggesting it is dangerous,” he threatened him. “Besides, you’re not my type.”

“What is your type anyway?” Domyouji asked.

He thought for a couple of moments on that, quickly realizing that he didn’t exactly have a type. The only thing he could find in common was that he looked up to the people he suspected he had once had feelings for. “I dunno. Someone cool? Definitely not you.”

“Hey! I’m totally cool!” The other redhead protested.

“You wish,” Misaki scoffed.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Domyouji huffed. “Well, you aren’t my type either, for the record.”

“But the guys at Scepter 4 are?” Misaki shot back at him. Having to hear him complain about how unfairly attractive his colleagues were was finally paying off.

“To be fair, I think anyone would be able to find someone who is there type amongst those guys,” Domyouji said, defending himself.

This was getting into a bad territory so Misaki quickly redirected - especially since he didn’t find himself necessarily disagreeing.. “So, besides randomly strolling in with a guy, do you have any other suggestions for coming out?”

“Just be honest, I guess. Be prepared that things might not go how you expect or how you want. Worst come to worst, I’ve got your back,” Domyouji told him with a large smile.

That actually made him feel a bit better. It didn’t really help him know what to say though. He had never been good with words or explaining shit so he couldn’t think of a way to do this without just blurting it out.

“Here! How about you practice saying it to me just to get used to saying it,” he told him.

Misaki nodded, taking a deep breath before saying it out loud, quiet enough that only the two of them could hear. “I’m bisexual.”

\--

Saruhiko was in an especially bad mood today. Not only was he forced to go out of patrol because Domyouji had taken half the day off, but he had to listen to his coworkers gossiping about what Domyouji was doing.

“I’m pretty sure that he has a date today. He kept looking at the clock all day and has been pretty attached to his PDA recently,” Hidaka said.

Akiyama raised an eyebrow. “You really think that guy managed to get someone to date him?”

He was beginning to think that if he was really being subjected to this all because Domyouji was trying to get with someone that he was going to put him through hell tomorrow. Though, piling paperwork on the man would only serve to bite him in the ass since he would end up having to fix it afterwards. Clicking his tongue, Saruhiko glanced away from the pair who continued on about the topic, he wondered if he would be able to break away from them and maybe patrol on his own for a little bit. It wasn’t as if there was anything interesting going on anyway and he was sure that these two would likely be able to handle anything that they came across on their own. As they walked, his eyes fell on a game shop.

Huh...that brought back some memories.

As if it was happening before him, he could easily see a younger him walking out the shop with a smaller ginger next to him, the latter draping his arm over him to the best of his ability despite the difference in their height. The summer sun too hot for either of them, but they barely seemed to notice the sweat beading on their foreheads - too distracted by the other’s company. Misaki excited to play the game that they had just gotten, Saruhiko silently looking forwards to playing with Misaki; watching the look on his face as he struggled through the harder levels, brow furrowed and lips pursed, only to break into a grin when he finally succeeded.  

The memory left a bitter taste in his mouth that he wanted to get rid of.

There was a moment of relief when the voice of Hidaka cut through his thoughts, only to pull his attention to an unpleasant sight, debatably worse than what had been going through his mind before.

“Oh! It’s Domyouji, told you he was on a date. What other reason would he have to go to a cafe like this?”

“Huh, looks like it is. I wonder if the Captain knows…” Akiyama didn’t seem particularly like he was going to report it. Probably because it was completely possible that the Captain was absolutely aware of the nature of Domyouji’s leave.

The two glanced back at Saruhiko, who let out an annoyed sigh before walking forward, planning on simply passing by without a word and finding a way to punish him later. That was until he glanced over from the corner of his eye and saw a familiar figure sitting opposite of his fellow clansman. His face was flushed pink, apparently embarrassed by something that Domyouji found very amusing if his silent laughter was anything to go by..

Saruhiko, however, was not amused in the slightest.

“Wait, who’s that with him?”

“Is that Yata Misaki?” Hidaka asked, voice filled with surprise.

The verbal confirmation that the scenario was actually playing out was enough to put a scowl on Saruhiko’s lips. He could feel the glances between him and the pair of gingers on the opposite side of the glass, completely oblivious. They were apparently just as at a loss as to how to react as Saruhiko was.

What were those two even doing together? Sure, they were similar enough that them hanging out wouldn’t be exceptionally bewildering if it wasn’t for Misaki’s distaste for seemingly everyone who donned the Scepter 4 uniform. He couldn’t imagine that he would willingly agree to hang out with one of them. Especially under the pretense of a date, as Hidaka and Akiyama seemed so certain of.

Misaki didn’t even like guys, right? He couldn’t recall him ever seeming particularly interested in them, not compared to the way he turned into a stuttering, blushing virgin the moment a girl came within 100 meters of him.

Did Domyouji like guys? Saruhiko had never actually heard him talk about a girl, but he kind of zoned out when Domyouji talked in general so that wasn’t exactly saying much.

What was he even considering…? There was no way that they were on a date. This was all just some kind of weird misunderstanding. There was a reason as to why Misaki wasn’t wearing his typical baggy clothes and why he seemed to be having a good time talking to Domyouji. A reason that was not a date.

He tried to tell himself that the reason didn’t matter because he didn’t care, but the nagging at the back of his mind that wanted to keep Misaki’s eyes only on him made that pretty hard to uphold.

Tearing his gaze away, he clicked his tongue. “Unless you have intentions of reporting Domyouji’s whereabouts to the Captain, let’s go.”

There were murmured affirmations before they followed after Saruhiko who seemed pretty intent on putting distance between himself and the cafe, remaining silent for the rest of their patrol.

\--

“-stuffed the whole shit ton in his mouth cause Anna was watching not knowing that she had loaded it up with spicy peppers cause she liked the color. There was about five seconds where he was fine before his face got real red and he couldn’t stop crying for like an hour. He kept insisting that he was fine with snot and tears all over his face,” Misaki laughed. “Man, I wish he had his film hobby then. I would’ve loved to have that on camera.”

“You should have her make some more so that I can bring it in to Scepter 4. I’ll make sure to get it on camera too, especially Fushimi.” A wicked smirk appeared on Domyouji’s lips at the mental image he was no doubt creating in his head.

Misaki snorted as he imagined the refined Scepter 4 all messed up from Anna’s special spicy curry. The only person he had ever seen eat it was Mikoto and he was on a whole different level than anyone else. “Good luck getting that picky bastard to eat anything. If he thinks it might have even been cooked within three feet of a vegetable then he won’t eat it,” he told him.

“I’ll just have to get a separate batch that looks vegetable free. Do you think your king would be up for it?” Domyouji asked him eagerly.

“I can ask. Though, you better not tell anyone that we helped with your little prank. I don’t need you blues coming after us thinking we were trying to poison you guys.” Misaki paused for a few moments, his face growing more serious. “Actually, can you not tell anyone about any of this. I don’t want anyone finding out about...you know…”

Domyouji nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep what a pervert you are a secret. The price for my secrecy is some special curry and at least one co-op session of your new game,” he told him with a genuine smile.

Relieved, he agreed. “Fine. If you suck, I’m not letting you play anymore though. I’ve got pretty high standards for gaming partners,” Misaki warned.

“Prepare to have your standards exceeded!...Oh shit, it’s getting dark.” Domyouji’s attention was was caught by the darkening sky.

Had they really been talking for that long? He hadn’t remembered all of that time passing. “What do you turn into a pumpkin when it gets dark?” he asked.

“No, but I do have other things to do with my life besides talk with you. I’ve got an actual date tonight,” Domyouji told him.

Misaki quirked his eyebrow up. “A date? With who?” he asked. He was certain that he hadn’t mentioned anything like that before. If he had then he definitely wouldn’t have kept him for so long.

“Some random guy I met through a dating app,” he shrugged slightly, silently motioning for the waitress to come over so that they could get the check.

“Good to know I’m not the only random dude you are meeting up with today,” Misaki rolled his eyes slightly, getting his wallet out from his pocket so that he could pay his part. “Does this guy know he is getting sloppy seconds?”

Domyouji grinned. “Careful or you’ll start to sound jealous. I’m just taking advantage of my day off since I’m usually working late,” he told him, nodding in thanks when the bill was dropped off.

They paid for their food before going their separate ways with a few more lines of banter exchanged between them. Misaki felt significantly lighter as he walked towards the bar, having already agreed that he would help him out tonight beforehand, wishing that he had brought his skateboard. Not having it had been great when he wanted to prolong his walk due to nerves, but now that he actually had somewhere that he wanted to get it sucked. Well, it wasn’t that far of a walk so it wasn’t a big deal. He shoved his hands into his pockets and smiled slightly. Things were starting to seem like they were going to be pretty good.

\--

Things were feeling much less good.

Misaki had been planning on riding his high from earlier and telling Kusanagi as they closed up the bar for the night since it was one of the only times that he knew that he would have him completely alone without having to worry about any of the guys or Anna coming in mid confession.

Now that the bar was actually empty and Misaki was nearly done cleaning up, he was feeling a lot less confident about the whole thing. His hands were clammy no matter how many times he wiped them off on his pants and his heart was racing. It wasn’t as if he was exactly good at hiding his nerves either; having spaced off more than once to the point that Kusanagi had to pull him out of his daze.The older man had even offered him a glass of water, solidifying that he had noticed his odd behavior.

‘Dammit, where did all that earlier confidence go? It’s just Kusanagi-san.’

With that, he nodded and put down the rag in his hand. “Hey, can I talk to you?” he asked, trying to ignore the way his voice trembled ever so slightly.

Kusanagi looked up at him, drying off a glass. “Hm? Yeah, go ahead,” he said, giving a small encouraging smile.

He closed his eyes, trying to center his thoughts before opening them, a determined fire in them. “Well, I uh...for a while...i...fuck-” his face started getting red as he stumbled over his words, feeling like the determined fire he had felt moments ago was now melting his brain into a pool of useless mush.

Mentally, he apologized to Domyouji who had spent so much time letting Misaki say those words that he couldn’t manage to get out now over and over again. It felt like all of his practice was completely useless now in the moment. Why had he thought that this was going to be so easy again? This was quite possibly one of the hardest things that he had ever tried to say and he didn’t know why. Kusanagi wasn’t the kind of person that would care about that kind of thing. He knew that. He never treated any of the guys differently when they talked about a guy that they had gone out on a date with. He never even flinched when the topic was brought up. So why couldn’t Misaki tell him like he had planned to.

“Take your time. I have all night so you don’t have to force yourself,” he told him.

Nodding slightly, he stood in the middle of the bar, fists clenched and feeling pretty damn stupid while Kusanagi went back to drying glasses as if he had never said anything to begin with. Completely patient and giving Misaki the chance to not say anything at all if he wanted. This was exactly why he wanted to tell him.

“I…” he started again slowly before feeling a burst of Yata Misaki brand rashness that allowed him to do a lot of the reckless shit that he did, “...fuck it, I like guys! And girls...Both. I like them both, It’s not a big deal, I just wanted to tell you,” Misaki blurted out.

Looking up, regarding him with a slightly surprised expression, Kusanagi quickly regained his composure before nodding. “Hm, okay.”

“O-okay?” Misaki hadn’t been exactly sure what kind of reaction he was expected, but that hadn’t been it. Not that it was bad.

“You said it wasn’t a big deal, ya?” He asked, raising his eyebrow slightly.

“Right. It’s not. It doesn’t change anything. I’m still Homra’s vanguard!” He declared, slowly beginning to feel the nerves from before fading away.

Kusanagi smiled a little. “Good...and even though it’s not a big deal, I am happy you trusted me enough to tell me, Yata-chan.”

That was it. That was what Misaki had been so afraid of. He huffed out a small laugh at his own silliness for being worried about something that couldn’t have gone any other way than this. Now that he had told Kusanagi, the idea of the rest of Homra knowing was far less daunting. He knew for certain now that even if they teased him about it that Kusanagi had his back - not that he had ever really doubted it.

“Oh, Yata-chan, one more thing,”

Misaki cocked his head slightly. “Yeah?”

“If you ever need any advice about-” he cleared his throat, “ _that_ , I recommend that you don’t get it from Chitose.”

“You don’t need to tell me twice.”


	2. Chapter 2

There were plenty of reasons why Saruhiko’s morning could have been considered bad. First, he had woken up to find that he had slept in a way that left his neck sore and his shoulders unbearably tight which was only going to be aggravated by him sitting at his computer and typing all day. That was only the tip of the iceberg; he had also run out of hair gel, realized that he had forgotten to do his laundry so he was forced to wear a wrinkled uniform that he had left on the floor the night before, had stubbed his toe while walking around his dorm room in search of something cleaner to wear, and he was out of calorie-mate energy bars the one time that he was actually hungry in the morning and desperately in need of an energy boost.

 

So, it was fair to say that he was having a bad day filled with plenty of plausible reasons to be grumpy. None of these reasons seemed to fill him with the same bitter irritation that seeing Domyouji laughing and smiling without a single care in the world did though. It was as if he was completely oblivious to the daggers that Saruhiko glared in his direction everytime his cheerful voice reached his ears.

 

While the ginger was completely unaware of his dirty looks, the others in the room were very much affected by the dark aura that had surrounded Saruhiko, giving him a wide berth in order to keep from being on the receiving end of his wrath. It was comparable to being in the same room with a very large, very poisonous snake that could and would strike at anyone who got too close. The only difference was that Saruhiko Fushimi was debatably far more dangerous than any snake with his quick reflexes and sharp tongue and there was no anti-venom to save you if he did lash out.

 

Stretching and yawning a little, Domyouji began working on the assignment he had put on hold by leaving early yesterday. It wasn’t exactly time sensitive, but he wanted to get it done as soon as possible so that he could turn in early tonight. “Geez, I’m exhausted.”

 

“You can’t complain after having most of yesterday off,” Fuse shot back at him as the other rubbed at his eyes.

 

“Yeah, but I didn’t get any sleep last night.” Domyouji began typing as he talked, going slowly in order to focus his attention more on his comrade and their conversation.

 

Enomoto cocked his head slightly, innocently asking a question that would have been better left unasked. “Did you stay up late playing games or something?”

 

The small grin the stretched across the man’s face was an immediate clue as to his answer, “Nope, though it was a late night. I had a date.” He could vividly recall his date last night and didn’t regret the fact that he hadn’t managed to sneak back in until nearly four in the morning, even if it had left him in desperate need of a nap.

 

Saruhiko seemed unfazed by the comment at first, his mind working immediately to patch up what Domyouji had said with excuses and reasonings. There was absolutely no reason for him to think that the date he was referring to was with Misaki, especially since he had seen them together in the late afterno-.

 

“I think I’m gonna ask him out again. We’ve been talking for a while and he’s really interesting. Plus he’s cute, bit of a spitfire, but he turned into a blushing virgin pretty fast once we got back to his place. Lots of stamina too.”

 

Both Hidaka and Akiyama paled at his words, glancing over at Saruhiko who had frozen, the light reflecting off his glasses in a way that hid his eyes from view, but by the thin line his lips were pressed into, they could guess that it was a look that would kill if such a thing were possible. It wasn’t as if it was the first time that Domyouji had loudly bragged about his night time conquests, few and far between as they were, but neither could believe he was so brazenly talking about doing something like that with a member of HOMRA. Not just any member of HOMRA either. It was as if he was _trying_ to get killed.

 

Akiyama cleared his throat slightly. “Maybe you should save that kind of talk for outside of work,” he suggested tensely.

 

“Huh? Oh, are you jealous that I’m getting some? Next time we have a day off, you can come with me if you want. I can see if he has any friends that might be interested. What’s your poison, Akiyama. Girls, guys, either or?” He cocked his head slightly.

 

“Alright, enough. Seriously, you’re such a horny teenager sometimes,” Fuse sighed, saving Akiyama, who was still recovering from the fact that Domyouji had just invited him on a double date with Yata Misaki, from having to think of some way to answer him,

 

Domyouji pouted a little before agreeing with a _fine, fine_ and going back to his work. He was actually making fairly decent progress on it and it seemed good enough that he didn’t think that he would have to revise anything at all. It seemed that Saruhiko had also gone back to his own work, his fingers flying across the keys at such a speed that it was almost inhuman seeming compared to the rest of the members of his clan who were pretty fast typers compared to normal people.

 

After a solid half an hour of tense silence, Saruhiko suddenly stood up, walking away only to return with a stack of papers and files high enough to nearly obscure the third-in-commands vision. Striding over to the loud ginger, he dropped the stack beside him, a loud _THUD_ gaining the attention of everyone that hadn’t been watching him already. The snake had finally struck and there wasn’t a thing anyone could do to try and save Domyouji.

 

“I want these done by tonight on top of what you are currently working on.”

 

The other stared up at him with wide green eyes that flickered between his superior and the workload that had just been added to his plate. He was the last person that Saruhiko would have typically given work to since it was typical for him to just do it on his own to avoid having to fix his mistakes later. He opened and closed his mouth a few times in search of words, “b-but-.”

 

“Is there a problem?” Saruhiko’s face and voice were completely devoid of any emotion as he eyed him. Somehow, it was clear that raising any complaints would be dangerous, so Domyouji merely shook his head no. “Good. I expect you won’t be taking any breaks until they are completed without any error.”

 

No breaks on this amount of work meant that he would absolutely be pulling an all nighter, something the ginger was definitely not looking forward to. He already was in serious need of caffeine and didn’t think that he’d have it in him to work continuously through the night. He shot a pleading look towards his coworkers as Saruhiko turned to leave the room, hoping that they would take pity on him and help him get some of this done so that he might be able to get a few hours of sleep tonight. Even a single hour would be something he would be eternally grateful for.

 

All hope of assistance vanished as Saruhiko paused with his hand on the door handle. “Just to be clear, this is a solo assignment.” With that, he left without any real destination in mind.

 

Fuse scoffed a little as the door closed. “What the hell crawled up his ass and died…” he muttered, actually feeling a little bit bad for Domyouji.

 

Neither of the people who knew what was wrong with Saruhiko wanted to speak up and clue the others in as to what was going on, not sure if it was something that should be said out loud. Though, with how open Domyouji had been about the whole situation, it didn’t seem as if it was much of a secret.

 

“Domyouji...how serious are you about him?” Hidaka asked.

 

“Him? Oh, you mean the guy I was telling you about earlier?” Domyouji rubbed the back of his neck with a small smile, a small bit of pink gracing his cheeks. “Well, I know it might not have sounded like it earlier, but I really do like him. We’ve got a lot in common and being around him makes me really happy. I’m already looking forward to talking to him again, if I’m being honest, so I guess you could say that I’m in pretty deep,” he laughed a little bit.

 

Hidaka grimaced, nodding. “I see...well, if that’s the case then just...try to not talk about it around Fushimi.” There was no way that he could try to convince Domyouji to stop seeing someone if he really liked them, no matter who that person was. It wouldn’t be fair to pick sides, especially if HOMRA’s vanguard returned his feelings. It still made him sad to see Saruhiko so clearly affected by it.

 

“Huh? I guess I can try to tone it down around Fushimi…” He didn’t exactly understand why he shouldn’t talk about the guy he was seeing with Saruhiko around, but if Hidaka was asking him so sincerely then he would try.

 

Well, at least he would be able to talk about it with Misaki later. The shorter boy would probably get flustered if he went into details, but that almost made it more tempting to tell him. For now he had to finish up all of this paperwork on his own. Groaning softly, he grabbed the first thing off the top of his stack and started on it.  

 

_\----------x------------x-------------x-----------x-----------x------------x------------x----------x-----------x---------_

 

Misaki had messaged Domyouji the morning after he had told Kusanagi about his sexuality, proudly proclaiming that everything had gone well - intentionally leaving out the part where he nearly chickened out and how he had thrown all of their practicing out the window. To his surprise, he hadn’t heard back from his friend even though it was a day after that. Considering that he had work yesterday, he assumed that he must be catching up on whatever he missed and didn’t think too much about it.

 

He was in too high of spirits to worry since he had managed to get out a much more elegant confession to Kamamoto late yesterday afternoon while they were out and about. It had been equally as nerve wracking, but his partner had pulled him into a large hug that nearly suffocated him, far too emotional about the fact that Misaki had trusted him so much. Misaki had tried to shrug it all off, pushing him away with a red face and some cursing, but it really did mean a lot to him that Kamamoto had been so accepting. It was comforting in a completely different way than Kusanagi’s acceptance had been, but no less so.

 

He wasn’t going to go around admitting it, but even now his friends reactions made him smile. Misaki wasn’t sure exactly how or when he was going to tell the rest of the guys and Anna, but it was a huge weight off of his shoulders to feel as if he wasn’t hiding from everyone close to him.

 

The PDA on his wrist began going off and he picked it up without looking at the caller ID, putting pressure with his foot on the back of his board to coax it to a slow stop before stomping hard on the back, forcing the front up into his waiting hand. The lifeless “so tiiiired,” quickly gave away the identity of his caller.

 

“Why are you calling me then? Go to sleep.”

 

“Saw your message, wanted to tell you congrats. Too tired to type. My fingers hurt so bad, Yata,” Domyouji whined, the exhaustion in his voice was so obvious that Misaki was actually a little bit worried.

 

“What the hell does that Blue King do to his clansmen?” Were they always this worked to the bone? They never seemed this tired when they were fighting.

 

Domyouji grunted. “Not the captain, Fushimi,” he corrected.

 

“Huh? Saruhiko?”

 

“I must’a done something to piss him off because he gave me a bunch of work yesterday morning...I think. I don’t really know what day it is. I just finished, I hope…”

 

Misaki shook his head slightly. “What an ass.” Though he wasn’t all that surprised about it. Saruhiko could be be pretty moody at times. A small agreeing hum was the only response he got. “Well, go take a nap. Message me when you wake up or whatever,” he instructed.

 

“Mmm, ‘kay.” He paused for a couple seconds and Misaki almost thought that he had fallen asleep without hanging up. “Let’s plan another time to hang out. I wanna play that new game you got,” Domyouji told him, his words a little hard to hear through his yawn.

 

“Yeah sure. Don’t expect me to go easy on ya!” He grinned in excitement at the thought of being able to play with him. He had already tried co-op mode with Kamamoto, but he wasn’t all that good and was always complaining for him to slow down.

 

Domyouji let out a sleepy laugh and Misaki could hear the smirk in his voice. “Looks like you’ll be the one with experience this time~”

 

“DOMYOU-”

 

“Don’t worry, I’m in my dorm alone.” He cut him off before Misaki could finish yelling at him about saying that kind of stuff that could be misinterpreted, especially while he was in Scepter 4’s headquarters where all the wrong people could hear him. The last thing he wanted was anyone thinking that he had done something with Domyouji. It wasn’t as if the guy wasn’t good looking - Misaki would be blind if he didn’t realize that - but he had been totally honest when he had told him that he wasn’t his type.

 

Sighing out a mixture of relief and exasperation, Misaki responded. “Why do I put up with you?”

 

“Cause I’m amazing and the only one you can tell all about what a perv you are,” Domyouji teased.

 

“I’m not a perv. You’re the perverted one.”

 

He chuckled. “Not perverted. Fun. I could show you some fun stuff if you want.”

 

“I’m hanging up. Go to sleep,” Misaki instructed, deciding to let him slide on his jokes since he was probably going off whatever amount of sleep he had gotten when they had hung out the other day.

 

There was a soft noise that Misaki assumed was likely him getting into his bed. “You have the best ideas, Yata. Talk to you later,” he told him.

 

“Talk to you later.” He didn’t wait for a response before hanging up.

Wondering to himself how he ended up being friends with such a weird guy, Misaki dropped his board back down, pushing off with his foot and allowing himself to coast forward without any real urgency in his speed. He also wondered what the hell Domyouji did that pissed Saruhiko off so much. The guy was kind of a loud mouth and tended to blurt out things that he shouldn’t so he could imagine all types of things, especially when taking how prickly Saruhiko usually was into consideration.

 

Whatever it was, now that Domyouji had been mad to pay for it, he figured that Saruhiko would let it go like he used to whenever Misaki had managed to really grate on his nerves.

 

The aforementioned blue scratched absentmindedly at his collarbone as he walked around the corner, his eyes on the back of his ex-best friend as the distance between them grew. He had intended to make his presence known and play around with the vanguard in order to soothe the unnatural feelings in his chest and stomach that hadn’t left since he saw the two redheads together, but when he heard that they were talking, so familiarly too, he hadn’t been able to do anything but stay hidden and quiet.

 

The feelings inside of him only grew worse as he listened to them.

 

Misaki was worried about him, he had heard it in his voice even if he couldn’t see his face from where he hid. Then he seemed genuinely excited to see Domyouji again. Was he ever that excited to see him, he wondered.

 

Even more than that, he had never realized that Misaki liked guys in the first place. Had he not trusted him enough to tell him? Did the rest of HOMRA know? The thought of Domyouji of all people knowing more about Misaki than he did made him feel all kinds of ways that he would rather not. He chose to ignore the fact that he was no better since he had kept his own preferences away from the crow despite having realized it quite a while ago.

 

 _It’s not the same_ , he insisted to himself. He didn’t not trust Misaki with the information, he simply didn’t want to have to look the object of his affection at the time in the face and lie to him. With Misaki assuming he was interested in girls, he’d ask whether there were any girls he liked or who he thought the prettiest girl in class was. Those he could answer honestly, telling him he didn’t bother paying attention to them, much less spare them enough thought to like any of them. He hadn’t wanted to risk Misaki’s 0 or 100 ability hitting a bullseye while he was lying about that particular topic. Then after that they had moved in together there never seemed to be a right time, excuses as to why he couldn’t piling up all the way until he left HOMRA which gave him the ultimate reason to never confide in him.

 

There was no reason that an idiot like Misaki wouldn’t have blabbed about something like that unless he was intentionally keeping it from him. Yet, he had been open enough about it with others that he managed to end up dating someone. Not just someone. Domyouji.  

 

What did they do together? He immediately regretted allowing his brain to get onto that topic, unable to stop it once it got rolling. _Looks like you’ll be the one with experience this time._ The words repeated in his head over and over again, followed by the image of what Misaki’s face must have looked like - red and embarrassed. _He turned into a blushing virgin pretty quick._ He didn’t want to think of them together in any way. _Lots of stamina too._ Especially not in that way. His brain had thought enough about Misaki in such a compromising situation that it had no trouble giving visuals to Domyouji’s words. He felt sick just thinking about it. Domyouji touching Misaki, making him show off sides to him that even Saruhiko had never seen outside of his imagination.

 

“I thought you hated blues, Misaki. Why is he different?” He mumbled the words out loud as if Misaki would somehow hear them and answer him. “Or is it just me that you hate so much?”

 

That was fine. That was what he had wanted, for Misaki to hate him with everything that he had. It should have thrilled him that he didn’t share the same contempt for everyone in Scepter 4, that he was special. Instead, it left him feeling all twisted inside and he didn’t know any way to make himself feel better.

 

He immediately grabbed his PDA out of his pocket, scrolling through his limited number of contacts before clicking on one and raising it to his ear as the line trilled. _Riiiiing. Riiiiing. Riiiiing. “..._ Hello?”

“Domyouji. Have you finished with the work I assigned you?” Saruhiko asked him, noting that it sounded like he had just woken up which meant he hadn’t wasted any time in falling asleep after speaking to Misaki.

 

“Yes, sir.” Domyouji confirmed, seemingly trying his best to sound alert.

 

Saruhiko already knew that from listening in on his call to Misaki, but it would have seemed odd if he assumed. “Good. There have been reports of JUNGLE activity in multiple areas around the city. I’ll send you the list of locations and I want you to go and make sure that they aren’t up to anything suspicious.”

 

It was a lie. JUNGLE had actually been quiet today, but it would make him feel a little bit less terrible to have Domyouji pointlessly run around the city.

 

“Yes, sir…” he repeated, sounding utterly defeated in his response as Saruhiko hung up the call.

 

For a few moment, Saruhiko almost felt bad. He debated calling him back and telling him that he had changed his mind and letting his fellow clansman get some sleep. _I could show you some fun stuff too._ He thought up a bunch of locations that were at opposite ends of the city before sending it to Domyouji, adding in that he should thoroughly inspect each location as to not overlook anything.

 

With that, he began heading back to the headquarters so that he could complete his own work for the day, for once not feeling like following after Misaki and trying to get a rise out of him. He didn’t know if he would be able to hold back if it turned out that part of the anger that Misaki would show against him was on Domyouji’s behalf. It would only inspire him to take it out more on the other man and he had already decided that after making him run around that he would be done terrorizing him for the day.

 

_\----------x------------x-------------x-----------x-----------x------------x------------x----------x-----------x---------_

  


It was over a week before Misaki and Domyouji made good on their intentions to hang out, meeting up at Misaki’s little place since there was no way in hell that Misaki was going to go waltzing into the blue’s headquarters. They were currently sitting on Misaki’s crappy little couch, fingers moving rapid fire on the controllers in their hands as they killed a bunch of guys on the screen in front of them, watching with joy as they mowed through them.

 

“Yeah, so every- TO YOUR LEFT, LEFT SHITHEAD, NOT RIGHT- everyone at HOMRA knows now. Chitose, you’d get along with him I’m sure, went out and bought me a box of-”

 

“TAKE THAT YOU BASTARD! Sorry, I’m listening.”

 

“He got me a box of condoms and some lube as a joke, I think it was a joke at least. Kusanagi-san gave him a ton of shit for giving it to me in front of Anna and I thought I was gonna die of embarrassment.”

 

He could still remember the look on the older man’s face when Chitose passed him the ‘bag of goods’, offering him plenty of tips and tricks as he did until Kusanagi came to his rescue. Though, he was pretty sure that was in large part for the sake of preserving the innocence of their king’s ears. He had smacked him hard on the back of the head, before giving him an earful while Anna cocked her head in a silent question. Misaki quickly tried to cover it up before she figured it out. He definitely didn’t want to be the reason that Anna had to have _the talk_.

 

Domyouji snorted out a laugh as he shot at the other team of NPCs. “Maybe he was coming onto you. Is he good looking?” he asked.

 

“I guess. Chitose wouldn’t hit on me seriously though. I’m pretty sure that he’s got a thing for Dewa even though he hasn’t done anything ‘bout it, but even if he doesn’t he wouldn’t fool around with someone from the clan.” In Chitose’s own words, you shouldn’t fish in your own pond. Misaki didn’t think that his comparison made a lot of sense, but he understood what he was trying to get at.

 

“Probably a good idea. Dating within your clan seems messy.” There was something about his tone that told him that he had thought a lot about the topic at one point or another. He wanted to ask him about it, but figured it’d be better not to incase he had misread him.

 

“So how’s it going with that guy of yours?” Misaki asked him.

 

Immediately, Domyouji perked up a little bit. “Good! Last night we decided to go on a date on my next day off. You wanna see the pic he sent me the other day?” He asked, tossing his controller to the side as the screen displaying their scores popped up.

 

“I’m not sure. Do I?” Misaki asked him hesitantly.

 

Domyouji held out his PDA to him. “It’s nothing that will offend your virgin eyes.” He was telling the truth. The screen was instead filled with the picture of a guy with short black hair with bangs that swept over his forehead. He _was_ actually pretty cute. The guy had a bit of what appeared to be chocolate frosting on his cheek and the top of an apron was visible over his clothes. “He said he’s gonna bake me something for our date.”

 

It was Misaki’s turn to perk up. “If you have any leftovers, you should give them to me,” he told him. It had been a while since he’d had homemade baked goods.

 

“Mooch.”

 

“Says the guy playing _my_ game so that he doesn’t have to go out and buy it himself,” Misaki scoffed.

 

“This is payment for all of your free therapy sessions. You were able to come out to your friends because of my incredible advice, I think that is deserving of some time with your controller.” Domyouji picked the controller back up, selecting his weaponry and healing up for the next mission that they were going to be going on while Misaki did the same.

 

Misaki’s eyes rolled. “I don’t know if you telling me to just bring over some random guy counts as therapy or incredible anything. Neither does telling me about all the creepy shit you’ve done.”

 

“We’ve been over this. Not creepy, _fun._ Besides, you were the one all worried about what people thought of your nonexistent bedroom activities, I was just giving you some perspective that your vanilla fantasies were nothing to be embarrassed about,” Domyouji told him.

 

“Mine might not be, but there are definitely some things that you should be way more embarrassed about.” It wasn’t even particularly that they seemed all that terrible, just he didn’t know how Domyouji could freely recount the types of things that he had done without any kind of shame about it. It was almost inspiring.

 

He shrugged. “To each their own, my friend. To each their own. I just like to keep an open mind.”

 

“Is there anything you wouldn’t do?” Misaki asked, partially as a jab at him and partially out of curiosity.

 

“Of course. Never really been into the whole ‘daddy’ thing, gives me the shivers, obviously I don’t do girls, and my hardest limit is that I don’t do loud midgets that don’t appreciate what an _amazing_ catch I am,” he said as seriously as he could, immediately breaking into laughter when Misaki threw out his left hand to shove him, unable to do more without messing up the game.

 

“Don’t worry about that. I don’t go for perverts that wear vibrators to work.”

 

“THAT WAS ONCE!” Domyouji immediately protested.

 

Misaki smirked a little. “Whatever you say, voyeur.”

 

“It’s no fair. You need to share more of your deep dark secrets with me so that I can have ammo against you. Making fun of your virginity can only sting for so long,” Domyouji huffed. “Oh, hell yeah, health pack.”

 

It wasn’t as if Misaki really had any deep dark secrets to share, he was pretty much an open book except for- No, there was no way that he could tell Domyouji that. Especially not after he had spent the first twenty minutes of them hanging out together complaining about how that guy had been making his life hell for the past week. Besides, just because he had come to understand and accept how he felt about Saruhiko it didn’t mean that he had to like it. “Sorry, I’m just boring I guess.”

 

“That or you’re just good at keeping secrets. Don’t think I don’t remember ‘mostly’.” His comment left him confused.

 

“Huh? The hell are you talking about?”

 

“When we first started talking, you said you thought you realized you were bi because you’d had some possible crushes on friends, but not anymore _mostly._ That means you still _partially_ have a crush on someone and I’ll definitely figure out who so that I can tease you about it.”

 

Misaki had genuinely forgotten all about saying that and was amazed that Domyouji hadn’t forgotten. He quickly searched for something to say that would hopefully be convincing. “I’m totally over that,” he said firmly.

 

“Then why are you blushing?” Was he? Now that he mentioned it, his face and neck did feel incredibly warm. Fuck. He was blushing.

 

“Shut up.”

 

That seemed to only fuel him even more. “Come on, who is it? One of your clansmen? Or is it someone that you went to school with?” He asked him, clearly focusing more on him than the game considering he had started to make more rookie mistakes than he had been before. Though, Misaki was doing the same.

 

He sighed, deciding to give him something so that he would be satisfied enough to leave it alone. “Yeah, it’s someone I went to school with.”

 

“Do you still talk now? Is he into guys too?”

 

“No and I don’t know. Probably not. It doesn’t matter, like I said, we don’t talk much. He doesn’t even like me as a person and he’s kind of an asshole anyway,” Misaki muttered. “If he ever found out then he’d just use it to make fun of me.”

 

He could practically hear Saruhiko’s voice, using his feelings to mock him the same way that he had done with his pride. It was more unbearable than simply living silently with whatever complicated feelings that he had for him. So he’d just keep quiet about it and go on like normal, fighting and arguing with Saruhiko like he had before this sexuality nonsense ever came into play.

 

“Why do you like him if he’s such an asshole?” Domyouji asked.

 

Misaki paused completely, ignoring the repeated grunts of his character getting hit by the enemy. “I don’t know. He’s an asshole, but he’s also super cool, really smart too. I always was amazed by how smart he was, he understood shit that went way over my head. He made me feel wanted. He hated everybody else, but he let me drag him around and just when I’d start to worry that I was annoying him, he’d do something that made it seem like I wasn’t the only person that liked us together so I guess we just...kinda worked. It was like we both made up for what the other lacked without even trying...and when I was around him I couldn’t help but feel like everything would be okay, that we could take other the world if we wanted to because nothing could stop the two of us together,” Misaki rambled, unsure if that was enough to justify his feelings. He didn’t know why he felt like he needed to in the first place, but having feelings just because he did felt shallow.

 

After far too long with the room being silent, Misaki turned to look at him, finding Domyouji staring at him. “Holy shit…” he muttered.

 

Panic filled him, wondering if he had said too much or been too obvious about who he was talking about. He didn’t know what to say in response so he simply kept quiet as well and waited. It took what felt like an eternity for him to find the words to speak again.

 

“You don’t just like this guy, you like, love him, don’t you…?”

 

He hadn’t thought that what he had said had been enough to give off that impression. Had it? “L-Love? No way! Like I said, he’s an asshole and we don’t talk anymore. He hates me and I-” Misaki hesitated. He definitely didn’t hate Saruhiko. He was hurt by what he did, as well as unbelievably confused. “And I have given up on him,” he decided on eventually.

 

A small frown pulled at Domyouji’s lips. “You shouldn’t give up on the person you love- like a lot- “ he corrected when Misaki looked like he was about to interject, “-at least not until you know for sure that it’s impossible. Maybe this guy likes you back, but just feels the same way that you do. Nothing will happen if you both give up!”

 

“I’m _sure_ that it’s impossible.”

 

“Is he dead?” Domyouji asked him.

 

“No.”

 

“In jail?”

 

“No.”

 

“Did you confess to him and get rejected?”

 

“No, but-” Misaki started, only to be cut off.

 

“Then it’s not impossible, you’re just too scared to try. I’m not trying to tell you what to do, it’s your life, but saying things like it’s impossible is a cop out to not do something scary or hard. No one’s gonna force you to do anything, but you shouldn’t say things are impossible without giving them a fair shot or you are gonna live your life regretting the things that you ran away from.”

 

Misaki sat quietly as he took in Domyouji’s words. “Huh, you almost sounded cool…” he said eventually.

 

Domyouji grinned a little bit. “Of course I did. I _am_ cool. You’ve just been too blind to notice it,” he boasted before getting a bit more serious. “So what are you going to do?”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“You say that a lot,” he pointed out, making Misaki glare at him a little bit in response.

 

“There isn’t a lot for me to do. Even if it’s not impossible, it’s still too difficult for me to handle right now. It’s barely been any time since I realized I like guys, even less since I realized that I actually liked that asshole. I don’t know if he likes guys and I’m not sure if I’m ready for him to know that I do either,” Misaki told him.

 

“Do you think he would be disgusted or something? Does he not like gay people or something?” It wasn’t as if everyone could be as accepting as HOMRA had been, so it wasn’t a crazy assumption for him to make.

 

He shook his head. “No, I don’t think he really cares about that kind of stuff. It’s just...we were really close. What if he thinks I was looking at him like _that_ all the time? What if he gets creeped out?” They had lived together after all, had seen each other naked and everything. Sure, at the time he had thought that he looked nice - handsome - but it wasn’t like he was getting off to thinking about him or anything.

 

Well, there was that once, but that was before they moved in together and had been a total accident!

 

“If he does and won’t listen to what you have to say then he is a dick and you are probably too good for him anyways,” Domyouji told him with a small shrug.

 

“Easy for you to say. Just cause we don’t talk doesn’t mean that I don’t still have to see him all the time…” he grumbled, looking down.

 

“Man, I can’t wait till you tell me who this guy is or until I figure it out on my own so that things will make sense.”

 

“Sorry, I know it sounds like I’m just being a pain in the ass, but it really is just too difficult right now. Even if I did tell him, even if he did like me back, I don’t think it would change anything,” he admitted.

 

Domyouji nodded a little bit. “Well, like I said, not here to force you to do anything you don’t wanna. I just don’t want you holding yourself back,” he said before giving him a genuine smile.

 

“Yeah, I know. Things are just complicated.”

 

“If they were easy then they wouldn’t be as fun,” Domyouji mused. “I’m sure there are some encouraging quotes about pain making things better, but I can’t think of any.”

 

“Oh great, so you’re a masochist on top of being a voyeur,” Misaki smirked a little as he teased him.

 

“Only if my partner is a sadist.” Misaki wasn’t sure if he was joking, probably not. It was nice being able to fall back into a lighter topic after things that been a little more serious than he had intended though, so he didn’t mind.

 

They fell back into their rhythm of killing NPCs and covering each other when they had to while Domyouji started telling him about some cheat code he had heard about the game that was supposed to give you unlimited ammo and a glitch that allowed you to float on top of the map. When it got a bit later, Misaki ordered some chinese for them that they ate while watching some action movie that had just come out on tv, whooping and loudly exclaiming at the television to the point that his neighbors were probably sick of hearing their voices, especially after an entire day of them shouting at his game.

 

“Do you think that you love the guy you are seeing now?” He asked a little after the movie ended.

 

Domyouji let out a startled ‘eh?’ in response to his question. To be fair, it came out of nowhere so he couldn’t blame him. “No. I do like him a lot, but I don’t love him.”

 

He felt a bit hesitant to continue, but found himself a bit too curious to not, “Have you ever loved someone before?”  

 

“Yeah.”

 

“What happened?” Misaki cocked his head slightly, watching as a small smile pulled at Domyouji’s lips.

 

“I guess it’s just like with you. It’s just a little bit too difficult,” he said, his eyes shifting down for a moment before he looked back over at him. “Don’t worry. I’ve already decided that I’m fine doing things the way I am now, I’m glad I get to just be around him.”

 

So he wasn’t the only person who things were complicated for. “It’s not impossible though.”

 

“No, not impossible, just really hard,” he agreed.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to imagine that in this particular story that Domyouji isn't exactly a player, but he has dated a good amount of people and the relationships just don't usually last long for a variety of reasons (the main being how much time he has to devote to his job)
> 
> Also, pls help. I don't know when this story is going to end. It's kind of just writing itself. I meant to have Misaki and Saruhiko actually interact this chapter. That didn't happen. I also was going to have Domyouji learn that Misaki liked Saruhiko this chapter. That didn't happen either.

**Author's Note:**

> This was supposed to be me projecting the fuck out of my bisexuality onto Misaki and having him get validation from his friends and loved ones because he deserves it and because projecting is what I do best.
> 
> Now here we are and we are going to have conflict and we have the ginger bro squad and gay/bi solidarity and guys this is not what I planned. I swear. This was just going to be a bunch of Misaki being worried af and getting some advice and then coming out and boom done. Short drabble written and I can feel accomplished and go work on the longer fits that I have planned (cause I do have two Sarumi Aus that I am supposed to be working on but I wanted to get this out of my brain ahhhh)
> 
> There was supposed to be nothing but implications that Misaki had some kind of feelings for Saruhiko with equal implications that he had those admire-y friend crushes on Mikoto and Tatara at some point (you know, where you get really close to someone and get a little crush that lasts for like a week before you realize nah or have basically the equivalent of a celebrity crush on a friend.) Now it's full on Sarumi bitchachos! 
> 
> I'm so sorry. 
> 
> SOS. Send help.


End file.
